With the semester and this class coming to an end, I thought it would be nice to go back and recall some of my favorite moments and takeaways from this class. There are a lot of them, and my note sheet is pretty extensive, but I will pick about 4 of my favorite takeaways from each section of the class (lectures, guest speakers, Twitter, and blogs)
How I got here:
While reading some of yall’s final blog posts, you all talked about how you found out about this class and why you took it. Like the rest of you all, I mostly had no idea what this class was going to be about. I remember seeing MIST5720 pop up as one of the new electives, but was skeptical due to the class time and this class not having a previous syllabus or teacher attached to it. However, I remember Professor Tiwana and Professor Boudreau speaking highly of a new professor coming to UGA (shoutout to Professor Kane), so I decided to email Dr. Kane. I actually was able to talk to Dr. Kane about the format of the class back in November, and knew it was a class I would be intrigued in (plus, no coding!). I’m super glad I decided to take this elective and convince some of my friends to take it as well.
Now, onto some of my favorite moments and takeaways:
- The blockchain lecture. To this day, I remember Professor Kane saying “You will probably leave today’s class even more confused than when you came in.” Yeah…he was right. I was so lost from start to finish even while paying full attention to every sentence and interaction that was going on. However, the entire time, I was fully intrigued in trying to figure out what blockchain actually was and how it worked. I think I get most of it at this point, but don’t fully understand where the money is coming from. However, I do think blockchain will continue to grow, but definitely not at the pace of AI. But, take everything I say with a grain of salt.
- LaDante and Ivan’s Guest Speaker Presentation. I loved hearing their background and why they decided to start New Age Capital. Being a minority myself, it was saddening to hear that Black founders dropped 50% from 2021. However, I’m glad that investors such as Ladante and Ivan are turning things around. Also, hearing about how they work with the people they invest in was heartwarming, as Ivan stated, “Some people/companies just need cheerleaders/motivation”. Their passion for helping entrepreneurs is clearly shown, and I hope that they are invited back to speak to this class and maybe UGA one day (at Terry or the entrepreneurship program).
- Twitter. Oh Twitter. So many fun moments on this platform, from Elon messing up the algorithm to our entire feeds being about AI. I will never forget Elon putting doge as the logo for a few days. Overall, I loved going daily on twitter to see what the class was talking about. A few tweets that stand out:
- Erica talking about songs that switched music artists through AI (some of these were so good!)
- The numerous controversial (some might even say, hypocritical) statements of Elon Musk in regard to the future of AI
- Maddy live tweeting one of our classes, that was really fun to watch!
- Mary experimenting with one of the travel AI tools and it telling her to go to the eye doctor as one of her activities in her city.
- I loved reading the blogs, I always found the topics very intriguing and about things I had never even heard of before. There are so many blogs that stick out in my mind, but here are a few of my favorites:
- Nazneen’s post about digital innovation in Islam. It was so interesting to read about how technology is affecting and changing a religion. It’ll definitely be interesting to see where this goes in the future!
- Val’s post about the NBA and the technologies they are innovating. I love basketball, so I think all of the innovations arising are really cool!
- Andy’s post about FTX. I really had no idea this even happened, so it was nice hearing more about it (even though it was the fall of the cryptocurrency).
Overall, on the first day of class, I was super excited to see how the classroom and class content was going to be set up. By the end, I learned so much about the roles and lives of people in industries I had barely known about. Even though I did not like the 4-7PM class time once a week, I appreciated the non-traditional classroom format as it allowed me to think more creatively and meet new people. Now, I feel as though I have met 30~ new people that I otherwise would not have met in a traditional classroom. I will greatly miss making weekly tweets, reading blogs, and listening to the advice of guest speakers.
Lastly, HUGE shoutout to Professor Kane for being one of my favorite professors ever! Thank you for all you did for us, I know we all greatly appreciate it. I’m sure one day I will go back and randomly check our Twitter hashtag.
With that being said, I wish you all the best and hope we keep in contact!
Liah Fland 🙂